How did mother die in Crete, son asks in TV plea

THE family of a Scottish woman found dead in Crete five years ago hope an emotional appeal on Greek television might lead to a breakthrough.

Jean Hanlon: Found dead in sea four days after vanishing. Picture: Universal News

Jean Hanlon, from Dumfries, disappeared after a night out on 9 March, 2009. Her body was found in the sea four days later, off the coast of Heraklion, the island capital.

The coroner in Crete said Ms Hanlon, a divorced former hospital secretary who been living on the Mediterranean island since 2005, had drowned but her family maintain she was murdered.

Her son, Michael Porter, 25, is in Athens to appear on a talkshow in a bid to prompt witnesses to come forward in his fight for justice for his mother.

A second post-mortem examination held after pressure from Ms Hanlon’s family, and after the case featured in a Greek TV crime show, revealed she had suffered a broken neck, shattered ribs, a punctured lung and facial injuries consistent with a struggle. Last month Mr Porter took part in a protest at the Greek Embassy in London, along with other families who have lost loved ones overseas, to express their frustration at the way Greek police have handled their cases.

He also managed to arrange a meeting with Greek officials and was subsequently asked to appear on the TV show.

Mr Porter, a musical theatre performer from Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, said events immediately before his mother’s disappearance had convinced him her death was suspicious.

She reportedly met a man at a bar in Heraklion and telephoned a friend, sounding as if she had been drugged, saying she wanted to get away. She later sent a text message with the single word: “Help.”

A murder investigation launched in 2010 proved inconclusive due to lack of evidence.

Mr Porter has said a new lawyer hired by the family has found more clues which could point to potential suspects in her death.

Ms Hanlon, previously known as Jean Porter, had moved to a village east of Heraklion to work in the seasonal tourism trade and returned regularly to Scotland and England to visit her family, including her three sons, Michael, David and Robert.

Mr Porter also met officials from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for the first time.

Speaking last month he said: “It has been a bit of a breakthrough… As with anybody else they can’t promise that they can change the law but will back [us] and show that they are behind us.”